This is a silly request but my grandfather, an avid reader, asked for books for Christmas. He also declared he won’t read anymore books written by women because they are “too gossipy.” He said this in a room filled with his four daughters and numerous granddaughters. We want to prank him by getting him books by female authors that aren’t obviously female (gender neutral names, initials, or pen names). Obviously, he could figure it out if he reads the “About the Author” section but we doubt he will do that. He enjoys non-fiction, especially American history, as well as thrillers like the books by Robert Ludlum.
EDITED to add pen names to the list!
by Cornflower_Bumblebee
8 Comments
How about a pen name?
Dr. Alice Sheldon was an experimental psychologist and her genius in her profession shows also in her writing. She wrote under several pen names, but the ones she gained everlasting fame under was “James Tiptree Jr.” An incredibly original and brilliant writer, who deserves much more attention.
Her tales are always interesting and often frightening explorations of the human mind.
Have you checked her “best of” short story collection?
Sheldon had an amazing life story. Military service, PhD in psychology, worked in U.S. intelligence, wrote under a male pen name because of sexism and other reasons, and had an unfortunately tragic end. There needs to be a biopic about her.
For more about her life, you can check out her biography:
Phillips, Julie. *James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon.* New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2006.
https://www.amazon.com/James-Tiptree-Jr-Double-Sheldon/dp/0312426941
There’s an excellent collection of her short fiction: *Her Smoke Rose Up Forever.*
Special note: The short story, “The Screwfly Solution,” that she wrote under another other pen name “Racoona Sheldon,” is the most frightening and scientifically plausible end-of-the-world story ever written!
And I think it would be worth your grandfather reading it 😐😢
You mean stuff like J.K. Rowling writing also as Robert Galbraith or something similar? I do not remember it 100%.
Robin Hobb and George Eliot comes to mind lol
George Eliot
I mean George Eliot is the obvious example
But I’ll add CS Friedman to the list
Curtis Sittenfeld
Lionel Shriver
S.E. Hinton (Susan Eloise Hinton) wrote The Outsiders, and I’ve heard of George Sand too.